Has The Age Editor called for the wrong resignation
I flag from the outset that I haven’t been a regular readers of newspapers for almost a decade, only slightly less than my giving up on mainstream TV News shows. As such you should take this with a grain of salt, coming as it does from someone who reads maybe a paper a week and even then only to delve into the puzzles as my preferred section of the newspaper. That said, on Saturday I read The Age editorial calling for Julia Gillard to stand aside.
Which depending upon what your political leanings are, may or may not be a fair call. But what clearly was NOT a fair call were the reasons justifying the editor making this claim. To justify this claim the editor of that piece (whom from the 2nd page of that edition I believe may have been the acting editor Michael Short), suggested that the Prime Minister Julia Gillard needed to resign because without it: ‘The Age’s overriding concern is that…voters will denied a proper contest of ideas and policies – and that would be a travesty for the democratic process’.
And herein then is my dliemna – If The Age can report on any details it cares to, who exactly has been focusing its attention on alleged leadership challenges inside the ALP and ignoring reporting any details of the policy and ideas?’
My understanding is that it is the editor of each paper that sets the direction and focus for the newspaper. My understanding is also that The Age is owned by the Fairfax Group which is under significant financial challenges.
For an editor of an independently run newspaper to claim that the only way they can focus on policy and ideas is for the sitting PM to resign is I feel an admission that the editor has been failing to do their job. If the Editor of the paper sets the focus and direction, the ONLY one stopping The Age from focusing on ‘policy and ideas’ is well, the EDITOR. The Editor claims that ‘The Age is more despairing of the vacuum in policy debate’ which begs the question – why instead have you been ignoring the policy position of all parties and choosing to focus on the much less important issue of leadership?
It seems to me that the failing resides not with the PM’s unwillingness to resign (whether warranted or otherwise) but with the choices made by The Age in perpetuating the focus on the trivial at the expense of the important. One must wonder to what extent the troubles of the Fairfax Group have been influenced by its major papers inability to focus on what readers may want? Maybe if The Age began reporting on policy positions of all parties and independents it may foster the very discussion it claims it is currently unable to undertake?
But one thing seems clear to me – given the Editorial in Saturday’s The Age, the only one who ought to be resigning their position is the Editor who wrote that piece.
As Nations look to develop their understanding of Productivity and more effective planning, National Productivity Councils are often the first point of call for Governments looking for ideas. The Asia Productivity Organisation has been running since 1961 helping its member countries develop more effective approaches. I’ve just spent a week in Tokyo helping a group…
Read More >Okay I admit that on the first take this idea might sound a little crazy. I reminded myself however of that saying that ‘all great ideas must at first sound crazy to the existing paradigm…’ or some such thing. You might know who said it (please send me an email if you do). So I…
Read More >We all use words that tell us about the results that were achieved and whether our expectations were met, missed or exceeded. Surprised? Disappointed? Delighted? The only way you can experience these emotions and others like them, is to have an expectation in mind. And the ONLY way you can teach your organisation to learn…
Read More >The last couple of months have been hectic to say the least, with a myriad of client engagements across an array of industry sectors. And as you can see from the list below one thing is clear: EVERYONE wants to understand what is shaping their future and how they might be able to influence that…
Read More >Those of you that have been tracking this website for a while will know that towards the end of each year, I nominate the following year’s area of focus. For instance I declared that 2015 would be the International Year of Battery Technology, and as the news stories, product research and renewables push shows, it…
Read More >I’ll be helping to kick off the Local Government Corporate Planners Conference in a couple of weeks, offering some thoughts about emerging issues for Councils and an approach to planning that should alleviate some issues for them. You can find details in this link to the conference program which is being held at Citadines…
Read More >The immediate needs of farming families are obvious. Feed to keep stock alive, someway of holding onto their farms under the stand-over tactics of some banks, and Rain. Donations can fix the immediate short term to an extent but they cannot fix the long term trajectory. That requires difficult conversations and an acceptance of the…
Read More >There are four phases of thinking that every organisation MUST have available to them if they plan to be resilient to challenges, adaptable to changing circumstances and able to sustain themselves over time. The Phases are Strategic; Operational; Execution; and Evolution. If you miss any one of them or underplay an area, sooner or later…
Read More >Life is full of interesting and not so interesting choices. Some seemingly mundane or innocuous choices turn out to be life makers (and breakers). Occasionally the noisy intensive choices turn out to be little more than a passing zephyr carrying dust. The National Party in Australia have just been presented with a ‘Fork in The…
Read More >It probably does not get much simpler than this – no MBA required, no advanced training needed. And rather than give you the ‘mistake’ I’ll just give you the solution which is this: NEVER mistake the positiveness of Your Intent… with the ACTIONS you have taken! You cannot improve if you convince yourself that ‘good…
Read More >